NRA official: 'Culture war' about more than gun rights

4:53 PM,
May 3, 2013

Barry Bailey of DeRidder, La., gives his wife, Judy, a kiss before having their 1873 Winchester rifle appraised at the NRA's Antiques Guns and Gold Showcase during the National Rifle Association's 142 Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center Thursday in Houston. NRA's Antiques Guns and Gold Showcase is a television show that runs on the Sportsman Channel. The 2013 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits runs from Friday through Sunday.

Written by

Jim Vertuno
and Juan Lozano

HOUSTON - The National Rifle Association opened its annual convention Friday with a warning to its members they are engaged in a "culture war" that stretches beyond gun rights, further ramping up emotions surrounding the gun control debate.

NRA First Vice President James Porter, a Birmingham, Ala., attorney who will assume the organization's presidency Monday, issued a full-throated challenge to President Barack Obama in the wake of a major victory regarding gun control and called on members to dig in for a long fight that will stretch into the 2014 elections.